{{Short description|Australian hairdresser and partner of Prime Minister Julia Gillard}} {{distinguish|Tim Matheson}} {{Use Australian English|date=October 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Tim Mathieson | image = Julia Gillard and Tim Mathieson January 2013 cropped.jpg | caption = Mathieson with Julia Gillard in 2013 | office = Partner of the Prime Minister of Australia | term_label = In role | term_start = 24 June 2010 | term_end = 27 June 2013 | predecessor = Thérèse Rein | successor = Thérèse Rein | birth_name = Timothy Raymond Mathieson | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1957}} | birth_place = Shepparton, Victoria, Australia | spouse = {{marriage|Diane Stark<br />|1987|2003|end=divorced}} | partner = Julia Gillard<br />(2006–2021) | children = 3 | education = Shepparton High School{{ref|http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/tim-mathieson-reveals-he-wants-partner-and-prime-minister-julia-gillard-to-be-his-wife/news-story/4478da3c7d39a6ca46ef365c2289b777}} | alma_mater = | occupation = Hairdresser }}
'''Timothy Raymond Mathieson''' (born 1957) is an Australian hairdresser and the former domestic partner of Julia Gillard, the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013.<ref name="MathiesonBubbly">{{cite news |url=http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/gillards-partner-tim-mathieson-bubbly-20100624-z1o2.html |title=Gillard's partner Tim Mathieson 'bubbly' |date=24 June 2010 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |accessdate=26 June 2010 |agency=Australian Associated Press}}</ref> Mathieson entered the public spotlight when he became Gillard's partner in 2006 while she was deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party.<ref name="Harris">{{cite news |url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iNDKSoYfQefXfk6QmkY4gKz3YLrQ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100628071203/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iNDKSoYfQefXfk6QmkY4gKz3YLrQ |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 June 2010 |title=Beer-swilling hairdresser is Australia's 'First Bloke' |last=Harris |first=Talek |date=25 June 2010 |agency=Agence France-Presse |accessdate=26 June 2010}}</ref><ref name="Lunn">{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/julia-gillards-partner-faces-life-in-the-limelight/story-e6frg6nf-1225884482420 |title=Julia Gillard's partner faces life in the limelight |last=Lunn |first=Stephen |date=26 June 2010 |work=The Australian |accessdate=26 June 2010}}</ref> His relationship with Gillard ended in 2021.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news |date=2023-10-19 |title=Tim Mathieson, former partner of Julia Gillard, spared jail over sexual assault on sleeping woman |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-19/tim-mathieson-julia-gillard-partner-spared-jail-sexual-assault/102996542 |access-date=2023-10-19}}</ref>
==Early life and career== Mathieson was born and raised in Shepparton, Victoria. After a hairdressing apprenticeship in suburban Melbourne, he first operated a Shepparton hair salon, then another on the Gold Coast, Queensland.<ref name="bb"/> For much of the 1990s, Mathieson lived and worked in San Francisco in the United States.<ref name="Valent">{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/management/our-julia/2007/05/18/1178995371860.html?page=fullpage |title=Our Julia |last=Valent |first=Dani |date=18 May 2007 |work=The Age |accessdate=26 June 2010 |location=Melbourne}}</ref>
Mathieson returned to Australia in 2004, worked for one year as a hairdresser at ''Heading Out'' salon in Melbourne, where he met long-standing salon client, politician Julia Gillard. They began dating in March 2006.<ref name="MathiesonBubbly"/> With financial support from his father and brother, Mathieson established ''Tim Mathieson Hair'' in Shepparton but moved back to Melbourne later in 2006<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/annabel-crabb/2008/11/28/1227491825246.html?page=fullpage |title=Gotta wash sexism right outta our hair |last=Crabb |first=Annabel |date=29 November 2008 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |accessdate=27 June 2010}}</ref> as a sales representative for a hair products company.<ref name="Valent"/> From January to March 2010, Mathieson focused on the sale of high-rise apartments in Melbourne to international buyers on behalf of a local real estate agency.<ref name="Lunn"/><ref>{{cite web|author=Royce Millar and Rafael Epstein |url=http://www.theage.com.au/federal-election/tim-to-quit-job-if-julia-gets-up-20100819-12s25.html |title=Tim to quit job if Julia gets up |work=The Age |date=20 August 2010 |accessdate=26 June 2013}}</ref>
Once Gillard became prime minister in June 2010, Mathieson supported her by assuming an unpaid behind-the-scenes role.<ref>[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/bath-blowdry-and-barracking-for-the-pm/story-fncvk70o-1226516979434 Bath Blowdry And Barracking For The Pm] ''The Daily Telegraph'' {{dead link|date=December 2022}}</ref> === Public life=== In November 2008, Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon appointed Mathieson as one of the government's unpaid men's health ambassadors.<ref name="Harris"/> He later became an ambassador for Kidney Health Australia,<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.medialaunch.com.au/919/ |title=Kidney Health Australia Appoints Tim Mathieson as Health Ambassador |date=26 November 2008 |publisher=Kidney Health Australia |accessdate=27 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007064226/http://www.medialaunch.com.au/919/ |archivedate=7 October 2009 }}</ref> a patron of the Australian Men's Shed Association<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mensshed.org/page8386/About_Patrons.aspx |title=AMSA Patrons |year=2009 |publisher=Australian Men's Shed Association |accessdate=26 June 2010 |archive-date=6 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206221245/http://www.mensshed.org/page8386/About_Patrons.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> and involved with the Indigenous Diabetes Association in Alice Springs<ref name="Lunn"/> and Beyond Blue mental health group.<ref name="bb">{{cite web |url=http://www.beyondblue.org.au/index.aspx?link_id=59.1159 |title=Tim Mathieson, Men's Health Ambassador |year=2009 |publisher=Beyond Blue |accessdate=26 June 2010}}</ref> In December 2010, Mathieson was appointed patron of the National Portrait Gallery.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/julia-gillards-partner-tim-mathieson-new-patron-of-national-portrait-gallery/story-fn3dxity-1225972099051 |work=The Australian |title=Julia Gillard's partner Tim Mathieson new patron of National Portrait Gallery |date=16 December 2010 |accessdate=19 January 2011}}</ref>
In January 2013, Mathieson attracted media attention for a joke he made while advocating for prostate examinations, advising men to seek out "a small Asian female doctor" when receiving a rectal prostate exam. After commentators considered his remark inappropriate and in poor taste, he apologised.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/first-bloke-tim-mathiesons-prostate-joke-labelled-tasteless/story-fn59niix-1226563992926 |title=First Bloke Tim Mathieson apologises for prostate joke 'in poor taste' |work=The Australian |date=28 September 2012 |accessdate=26 June 2013}}</ref>
==Personal life== While in his late teens during the 1970s, Mathieson fathered a daughter with his girlfriend Pam Child.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/tim-mathieson-reveals-he-wants-partner-and-prime-minister-julia-gillard-to-be-his-wife/news-story/4478da3c7d39a6ca46ef365c2289b777 | title='First bloke' Tim eyes the altar | work=adelaidenow }}</ref><ref name="Tinkler">{{cite news |url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/gillard-lovers-dark-past/story-e6freuy9-1111114637949 |title=Julia Gillard's partner in plea |last=Tinkler |first=Chris |date=14 October 2007 |work=The Daily Telegraph |accessdate=26 June 2010 |location=Australia}}</ref> In 1987, Mathieson married Diane Stark; they had a son and a daughter together<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/first-bloke-is-a-mans-man-20100626-zapz.html |title=First bloke is a man's man |last=Walsh |first=Kerry-Anne |author2=Benns, Matthew |date=27 June 2010 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |accessdate=27 June 2010}}</ref> and divorced in 2003.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/election/speeding-tim-was-also-a-drink-driver/story-fn5zm695-1225899457615 |title=Speeding Tim Mathieson was also a drink-driver |last=Weston |first=Paul |date=1 August 2010 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=Australia |accessdate=1 August 2010}}</ref> In March 2006, Mathieson started dating Julia Gillard.<ref name="MathiesonBubbly" /> When asked in 2010 about formal marriage to Gillard, he said that they had not discussed it at that stage.<ref name="Lunn2">{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/lets-wait-and-see-on-marriage-says-julia-gillards-partner/story-fn5vfgwx-1225884011977 |title=Let's wait and see on marriage, says Julia Gillard's partner |last=Lunn |first=Stephen |date=25 June 2010 |work=The Australian |accessdate=26 June 2010}}</ref> Mathieson's relationship with Gillard ended in 2021.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Natalie |title=Julia Gillard confirms she's quietly split with former 'First Bloke' Tim Mathieson |url=https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/julia-gillard-confirms-shes-quietly-split-with-former-first-bloke-tim-mathieson/news-story/fd7f2eb354d1a921e203222162f94de9 |access-date=27 March 2022 |work=news.com.au |date=27 March 2022}}</ref>
In July 2023, Mathieson pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault after non-consensually sucking the nipple of a sleeping woman and "latching onto her breast when she tried to fend him off" in March 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pearson |first=Erin |date=2023-07-27 |title=Julia Gillard's ex-partner Tim Mathieson to plead guilty to sex assault |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/julia-gillard-s-ex-partner-tim-mathieson-pleads-guilty-to-sex-assault-20230727-p5dro9.html |access-date=2023-07-27 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref><ref name="auto"/> Mathieson was convicted in October 2023 and fined $7000.<ref name="auto"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-hon}} {{s-bef|before=Thérèse Rein}} {{s-ttl|title=Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia|years=24 June 2010 – 26 June 2013}} {{s-aft|after=Thérèse Rein}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathieson, Tim}} Category:1957 births Category:Australian hairdressers Category:Australian sex offenders Category:Date of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:People convicted of indecent assault Category:People from Shepparton Category:Spouses of prime ministers of Australia